a favourite piece being the scene from Don Quixote
between the Doctor and Sancho Panza in the island of
Barataria. Once the Irish peer presented His Eminence
with a telescope of English make, which so delighted the
old man that he immediately gave his visitor in return
one of the large silver " Henry IX " medals. According
to Lord Cloncurry's estimate the Cardinal Duke's annual
income at this time amounted to about £9000, including
DEAN OF THE SACRED COLLEGE 257
the royal pension, barely half of his former ecclesiastical
revenue ; yet little or no retrenchment had taken place
in his style of living, for the Cardinal Duke had positively
refused to reduce the number of his servants. 1 It is not,
therefore, surprising to learn that soon after his return
to Frascati he dispatched more than one appeal to Mr.
Coutts begging him to obtain an increase in his allowance,
but without success.
But the most minute account we possess of the
Cardinal Duke in these his declining years is afforded us
by a Scottish traveller, Joseph Forsyth of Elgin, who was
visiting Italy in 1802-3. Forsyth, who bore a letter of
introduction to Henry Stuart, was greeted on the mention
of his name by a foolish little jest concerning " Fore-
sight " and " second-sight," that drew a laugh from such
persons present as understood English, " which His
Holiness (sic) talks pretty well for a foreigner." But
on being told that his new guest's grandfather had fallen
in the Stuart cause, the old man's eyes filled with tears, —
" an emotion to which he was very subject," — and Forsyth,
though a person of no great social importance, was
immediately invited to sit next to His Eminence at
table : " a distinction," drily remarks the Scotchman,
" that I owed to my poor grand-parent and not to myself."
The Cardinal Duke likewise addressed most of his con-
versation to Forsyth during the meal, at which were
present a Neapolitan duke, several Roman nobles, a
bishop (doubtless Monsignore Cesarini) and some priests ;
but the critical visitor merely observes that his host said
little, and in that little nothing of interest. Forsyth also
remarks what he calls " a residue of royal state," spaces
1 Life and Times of Valentine, Lord Cloncnrry.
r 7
258 HENRY STUART CARDINAL YORK
being left vacant on either side the Cardinal Duke's chair,
and no guest venturing to break a period of silence until
the host had first spoken. Henry Stuart, he further tells
us, had the affectation of making use of common earthen-
ware, whilst his guests were served off plate and the
costliest of china. His dress and appearance are most
carefully described : —
" His face is handsome, smooth, ruddy, without a
wrinkle, except on the forehead. He stoops much and
walks with difficulty, for one leg is sore and a source of
health (sic) to him ; but the other has still the first shape of
his great-uncle Charles Il's. His dress was an alternation
of red and black: a scarlet coif; a black coat lined with
scarlet silk ; a black silk mantle ; a scarlet waistcoat ;
black velvet breeches ; scarlet stockings ; black shoes,
scarlet heels ; a purple coat laced with gold, and a plain
episcopal gold cross on his breast."
The meal ended, a small dog was brought by a servant
and placed on the table in order to perform some tricks,
at which the Cardinal Duke remarked "very significantly"
to Forsyth that it was of the King Charles breed. But
that irreverent Irishman, Lord Cloncurry, who often dined
at the Cardinal Duke's board, assures us this favourite
dog of his was nothing else but a mongrel cur, cast off by
its owner as being neither useful nor ornamental, that had
one day outside St. Peter's followed Henry Stuart, who,
remembering the legend that King Charles spaniels are
supposed to find out and attach themselves only to
persons of royal birth, and flattered at the poor creature's
attentions to his own person, had the homeless dog carried
DEAN OF THE SACRED COLLEGE 259
out to Frascati, where it became a great pet. Forsyth
concludes by stating that the Cardinal Duke, as a
claimant to sovereignty, pays no visits except to the Pope
or to his neighbour and distant kinsman, Charles
Emmanuel, ex-King of Sardinia. 1
For over three years after his return from exile this
life at Frascati continued until its interruption by the
death of his old friend, Cardinal Giovanni-Francesco
Albani, and the consequent raising of Henry Stuart to the
bishopric of Ostia and Velletri, to which is attached the
Deanship of the Sacred College. To hold the second
position in the Roman Catholic Church was a high
honour, even to a prince who claimed a sovereign's rank,
but the Cardinal Duke had now become too old and too
infirm to appreciate any change in his mode of life.
Unwillingly therefore he accepted the position that was
inevitable, but at the same time he petitioned the Pope
that in consideration of his great age and his deep attach-
ment to and long connection with Frascati he might be
allowed to keep possession of the palace of La Rocca,
although no longer bishop of the city. To this request
Pius vil, with the ready consent of Cardinal Doria, the
new bishop, at once acceded, and the Rocca therefore
remained Henry Stuart's chief and favourite residence for
the remainder of his life. As to his new pastoral charge,
the historic see of Ostia, which claims a direct foundation
by the Apostles themselves, and has been held from time
immemorial by the Senior Cardinal, consists merely of the
strip of reedy swamp and wooded waste on the south
bank of the Tiber that was once covered by the great
1 Joseph Forsyth, Remarks on Antiquities, Arts and Letters, during
an Excursion in Italy in the years 1 802, 1 803.
260 HENRY STUART CARDINAL YORK
flourishing town of Ostia, the former seaport of ancient
Rome. But scarcely a vestige of the famous city of
antiquity exists to-day above ground, whilst the modern
town is little better than a fortified hamlet containing a
few hundred fever-stricken peasants, whose houses are
huddled into an outer bastion of Sangallo's huge machicol-
ated castle of red brick, erected by order of the warrior-
pope Julius II to guard the river's mouth. Nevertheless,
Ostia owns a tiny cathedral of great sanctity that is
reputed to occupy the site of the house where St. Monica
dwelt with her famous son St. Augustin of Hippo, — the
Cardinal Duke's favourite author amongst the Fathers of
the Church, — and also a dilapidated palace. But no
splendid Porporato has ever taken up his abode in this
remote, unhealthy spot, and a solitary, ague-stricken
priest, charged with performing the necessary services for
the people, is usually the sole representative of the
Cardinal Dean in his episcopal city. It is not remarkable
therefore that the aged Cardinal Duke, now failing alike
in bodily and mental health, should never have visited the
decayed but famous city, of which he was titular bishop
for nearly four years.
On the other hand, Velletri of the mountains, which
is always held in conjunction with Ostia of the plains,
is a charming little town, rivalling and perhaps sur-
passing Frascati itself in the extent of its views and the
beauty of its surroundings. Situated some twenty miles
south of Rome, Velletri — the Velitrae of the ancients —
nestles amongst the bosky Volscian hills, whose lower
slopes are covered with the vineyards that produce the
light wholesome wines that bear the city's name, whilst
the whole neighbourhood is thickly wooded, and well
DEAN OF THE SACRED COLLEGE 261
watered by many sparkling rivulets. The place contains
numerous churches and a large cathedral ; also many
palaces, of which the most splendid belongs to the
Massimo family, the chief land-owners of the district.
Velletri would therefore have proved a pleasant enough
place of residence, had its new bishop been younger or
more vigorous ; but in his present state of feebleness
the Cardinal Duke lamented the uprooting of his forty-
year-old associations with Frascati and its people, and
dreaded any possible change to a new house and a new
city, though they were but a few miles distant. Never-
theless, Henry Stuart frequently visited his new cathedral
city, which he entered for the first time in state on
November 20th, 1803, in order to be enthroned as bishop.
On this great occasion we learn that " the sole surviving
son and heir of the unconquered and immortal James ill,
King of Great Britain, of Scotland and of Jerusalem
(sic) and valiant Defender of the Catholic Faith," passed
beneath an elaborate triumphal arch erected in his
honour by the delighted Velletrani. After the religious
ceremonies and a banquet, a mock tournament was
held in the grand piazza of the town, in which the
noble youths of Velletri took part, and as darkness
closed in the streets were lit by glass lanterns painted
with the royal arms of England. But the principal
feature of the city's entertainment of its new bishop was
a vast and elaborate set-piece of fireworks, measuring
eighty feet round its base and rising ninety feet into
the air, that had been erected in one of the piazzas,
its topmost pinnacle having been made to represent a
cherub playing on a crowned harp, " such as appears
in His Royal Highness' coat-of-arms," — the well-known
262 HENRY STUART CARDINAL YORK
emblem of Ireland. But the Cardinal Duke was too
old and too languid to find much pleasure in yet another
typical scene of Italian festivity such as he had witnessed
on many previous occasions, and though seated in a
convenient balcony in company with his friends he
watched the revels held in his honour and applauded
the effect of the great firework, he felt himself unable
to offer any reply to the many addresses and compli-
ments submitted to him, and therefore deputed the
performance of this duty to the ever-useful Cesarini,
who, if an invalid, was at least somewhat younger and
less infirm than his patron. Ten days altogether were
spent in Velletri, and then on December ist both the
Cardinal Duke and Monsignore Cesarini joyfully returned
to Frascati ; indeed, the latter, who suffered much from
a malady of the heart, always complained that the air
and climate of Velletri increased his complaint. 1
In spite of his eighty years and his ever-increasing
weakness, the Cardinal Duke, obstinately refusing to
remain quietly at home, still insisted on driving occa-
sionally into Rome and taking part in the ceremonies
at St. Peter's. But though the old spirit of energy and
the keen sense of duty remained, his failing strength
made these visits to the capital a source of great anxiety
to his friends and servants. At the popular Roman
festival of SS. Peter and Paul in 1804 he was present
at the head of the Sacred College to greet the Pontiff's
arrival at the portico of the great Vatican basilica, but
the fatigue of the long service proved too severe for
the old man's strength, and before its completion he was
compelled to retire to the sacristy. The Mass concluded,
1 Rclazione del Solenne Ingres so /at to in Velletri, Nov. 20, 1803, etc.
tfy^fJA
PIUS VII
DEAN OF THE SACRED COLLEGE 263
the Pope in person came to inquire after the health of
his Senior Cardinal, and whilst sympathising with his
infirmities, His Holiness advised him, somewhat tactlessly,
to return to Frascati immediately and never to leave it
again ; " a suggestion," records the Diary, " that His
Royal Highness appeared not to relish." But so ex-
hausted was he on this particular day that he had
finally to be carried by the Swiss Guard in a litter to
his coach at the foot of the steps outside the church;
yet, so indomitable was his energy that he was actually
able to attend this same festival on the following year
(1805): an event which proved, however, to be his last
visit to the great city of his birth which he loved so
dearly.
During the course of the year 1804 the Papal Court
was kept in a perpetual state of excitement over the
projected visit of Pius VII to Paris in order to crown
Napoleon Buonaparte Emperor. 1 As a Cardinal, Henry
Stuart received a personal invitation to attend the great
ceremony at Notre Dame in Paris, but was greatly
annoyed at finding himself therein addressed simply as
" Cousin " instead of " Brother " by the new Emperor, so
that complaint as to the omission of his royal title was
at once made to Cardinal Fesch, who promised to write
to his nephew on the matter. But at this very time of
anxious preparation for the Pope's departure, the Cardinal
Duke's mind, that had for long been tottering, gave way
1 On this occasion the Pope was lampooned by Pasquino : —
" Per conservar sa Fede lascia la Sede,
E per ritrovar la Sede lascia la Fede."
(To save the Faith he left the Holy See,
And to regain his Seat the Faith left he.)
264 HENRY STUART CARDINAL YORK
completely, and he was seized with an attack of lethargy
that seemed likely to prove fatal. News of her brother-
in-law's sudden collapse and of his expected end had
the effect of at once bringing Louise of Albany post
haste to Rome, not to visit her former benefactor, but to
confer privately with Monsignore Cesarini concerning the
arrangements made for paying her jointure in the event
of his death ; her mind satisfied as to the security of her
future income, the Countess quickly returned to Florence.
After a great deal of bleeding and physicking the Cardinal
Duke rallied and finally recovered part of his old force,
although for the few remaining years of his life he was
ever subject to similar attacks and also to the mild
epileptic seizures known to the French as petit ma/, which
prevented him from taking any further part in the affairs
of his diocese. Thenceforward Bishop Cesarini was
forced to act as confidential secretary as well as coadjutor
for his patron, whom he continued to tend with the most
loving solicitude. A complete loss of the sense of tasting
— " His Royal Highness can no longer relish his choco-
late of a morning" — and (what was far more serious) a
great loss of memory were now apparent ; yet, in a letter
dated October 15th, 1806, and sent in answer to the
enquiries of the Duke of Sussex, Monsignore Cesarini
states that the Cardinal Duke's general health is good
considering his great age. 1
Nevertheless, Henry Stuart's last three years were
chiefly passed in a state of senile decay, 2 and when a
feverish chill during the midsummer heat of 1807 seized
1 Diario del Cardinale Duca. Kelly, Life of Cardinal York. Historical
MSS. Commission Report.
2 Mastrofini, Note at the end of the Orazione.
DEAN OF THE SACRED COLLEGE 265
him whilst staying at his villa, the enfeebled frame of the
old man had little power of resistance left. For many
days, however, the coaches of Roman nobles and of princes
of the Church rolled backwards and forwards over the
shadeless roads between Rome and Frascati through the
heat and the dust of an Italian July, to enquire after the
illustrious patient, who lay struggling with death for over
a fortnight. But on the morning of July 13th — the
forty-sixth anniversary of his consecration as Bishop of
Frascati — it became evident to those around the sick-bed
that the end was rapidly approaching. The prayers
proper for a departing soul were thereupon repeated
alternately by Cardinal Doria and Monsignore Cesarini
until, at an early hour in the afternoon, the Cardinal
Duke,
" consoled by the last comforts of the Church, fortified
by the Apostolic blessing, with the hopes of a fervent
Catholic in his heart, and with the serene faith of the just
on his brow fled to God's bosom. ... So disappeared
from earth the last sublime glory of the House of
Stuart." l
Thus peacefully expired Henry Benedict Stuart,
Cardinal Duke of York, Dean of the Sacred College and
Vice-Chancellor of the Papal States, at the age of eighty-
two years and four months, after having been a Cardinal
over sixty years and a Bishop for nearly half a century ;
whilst for twenty-one years, five months and fourteen
days he had lived a determined but pacific Pretender to
the crown of a great kingdom whose soil he had never trod.
On the following day an autopsy was held by Dr.
1 At Li.
266 HENRY STUART CARDINAL YORK
Gegeo, after which the corpse was embalmed, and on the
evening of July 16th the body of the dead Prince was
carried to Rome escorted by cavalry and followed by a
number of mourning coaches of Cardinals and nobles.
The procession made its way direct to the Cancelleria,
since Henry Stuart had died as Roman Vice-Chancellor,
and in the great hall of the palace, which had temporarily
been turned into a mortuary chamber, the catafalque had
been prepared. Upon this was laid the body vested in
the magnificent robes of a Cardinal Bishop, with the
mitre, crozier, and Scarlet Hat placed at the feet together
with an escutcheon bearing the royal arms ; but no regal
crown was visible at the obsequies of the Cardinal King
Henry IX of Great Britain, France and Ireland. For
three days the Pontifical Guards watched beside the
body, whilst many thousands of spectators passed through
the great hall to take a last look over a sable-draped
barrier upon the face of the dead Prince. Being July,
there were few British visitors in Rome to attend the
lying-in-state at the Cancelleria ; or the grand Requiem
Mass in the neighbouring Church of Sant' Andrea della
Valle, at which Pius VII and twenty-seven Cardinals
assisted ; or the final entombment in St. Peter's ; but the
people of Rome, who had hailed the late Cardinal Duke
as " Protector of the Poor " on his return from Venice,
attended in great numbers. In addition to the funeral
services in the city, grand Masses were sung in the
Cathedrals of Frascati and Velletri, and in the former
Don Marco Mastrofini recited his Orasione, or eulogy, from
which we have had occasion to quote in a former chapter.
To mark the last resting-place of Henry Stuart, and
also of his father and brother (whose ashes had secretly
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STUART MONUMENT IN ST. PETER'S, ROME
DEAN OF THE SACRED COLLEGE 267
been removed from Frascati to St. Peter's), the great
sculptor Canova was afterwards commissioned by Pius VII
to erect the celebrated white marble monument with
its weeping genii that is so familiar an object to all
British visitors to Rome. Upon the tomb appear in low
relief the three busts of James III and of his two sons,
below which the Latin inscription runs : —
"To James III, son of James II, King of Great Britain,
and to Charles Edward, and to Henry, Dean of the
Cardinals, the sons of James III, last of the royal House of
Stuart, 1 819. ' Blessed are the Dead who die in the Lord.' "
This so-called Stuart tomb is of course a cenotaph,
for the bodies themselves are buried beneath the great
dome in the crypt of old St. Peter's, usually called the
Grotte Vecchie, in urns which bear the empty royal titles
of James III, Charles III, and Henry IX. 1 The simple
circumstance that a gift of £50 was made towards the
cost of this monument by the Prince Regent has given
rise to the erroneous statement, now complacently appear-
ing in every Italian guide-book, that George IV raised this
splendid memorial at his sole expense, whereas it was
Pius VII, always eager to show honour to the royal
House of Stuart, who was its true donor. 2
Although for nearly sixty years the recipient of an
enormous income from his many benefices, as well as the
1 The following is a translation of the Latin epitaph on the Cardinal
Duke's urn: "Henry ix, son of James in, King of Great Britain, France
and Ireland, self-styled Duke of York, Bishop of Ostia and Velletri, Vice-
Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, Dean of the Sacred College, Arch-
priest of the Vatican Basilica, died at Frascati in the odour of sanctity on
July 13th, 1807, aged 82 years, 4 months and 7 days."
- Notes and Queries, First Series, vol ix.
268 HENRY STUART CARDINAL YORK
inheritor of a considerable private fortune, the Cardinal
Duke died comparatively poor, for, as we have already-
shown, he had been practically beggared at the time of
the French Revolution, nor had he in his closing years
made any serious effort to save or economise : —
" Owing to the evils of the times in which he had lived
the Royal Porporato had lost many jewels and precious
objects, especially during the troubles in Rome; and of
money he had voluntarily despoiled himself to aid the
distress of the Papal Government on the demands made
by the Pope, and had finally pledged his pectoral cross
for 12,000 scudi ... in order to meet his private neces-
sities, so that in his will he bewails his inability to reward
in the way that his magnanimous heart could have wished
those persons who by their service and their affection
merited a just return." x
The Will is nevertheless a lengthy document, contain-
ing a large number of bequests, and naming Monsignore
Cesarini without reserve as its executor : —
" Such is the confidence that We place in the much
loved person of Monsignore Angelo Cesarini, Bishop of
Milevi, and Rector of our Seminary ; so great are the
proofs that he has ever given Us of his honesty, fealty,
delicacy, and of his great respect and love towards Us,
that We believe that We ought not to confide in anyone
1m. l
1 Atti.
2 Ibid. Cardinal Consalvi, to whom the Cardinal Duke bequeathed a
valuable sapphire ring and also a sum of money, had originally been
nominated an executor, but had subsequently retired from this position of
trust.
DEAN OF THE SACRED COLLEGE 269
By far the most interesting of the many instructions
given in the Will to Monsignore Cesarini is that which
asks him to testify to the Cardinal Duke's sense of
gratitude towards the reigning House of Britain, by pre-
senting the Prince Regent with any objects of special
historical value that might prove acceptable. The Bishop,
in fulfilling his dead patron's desires, writes on i^ugust 30th
to Sir John Hippisley, with an enclosed letter for the
Prince Regent, saying that he has found only two jewels
" deserving the acceptance of the Prince " : namely, the
Cross of St. Andrew, set in diamonds, that had once been
worn by Charles I and a ring containing a single ruby
engraved with a cross. The latter is undoubtedly the
ring alluded to by Mr. Coutts as being usually worn by
the Cardinal Duke on his own finger, and it seems to
have formed part of the ancient regalia of Scotland. 1
Sir John Hippisley replies on behalf of the Prince
Regent, who has directed him to express " the great
pleasure that the presents, which His Royal Highness
had destined for himself, will give him." His letter also
contains arrangements for the safe dispatch of these
historic jewels to England.
Other bequests by the Cardinal Duke include a watch
and a picture to the Countess of Albany ; the first Latin
edition of Plutarch in two folio volumes, an illuminated
manuscript, a gold medal, and the veil formerly belonging
to Mary Queen of Scots, to his benefactor, Sir John
Hippisley ; and a gold snuff-box with a portrait of its
former owner set in pearls on the lid, an ttui de voyage,
two china vases, and a gold medal of James II to Mr.
Thomas Coutts. 2
1 Historical MSS. Commission Report. a Ibid.
270 HENRY STUART CARDINAL YORK
But the sum total of the realised fortune was not
large, so that nearly its whole income was required to pay
annually the jointure settled on Madame d'Albany,
although that lady was now enjoying a pension of £1600
a year from the British Court. The good Bishop writes
more than once in despair to Sir John Hippisley, entreat-
ing him to devise some scheme by which the many
servants of the late Cardinal Duke, fifty-six in number,
may be enabled to receive their proper legacies, but
apparently his letters failed to effect their purpose. In
the following spring Cesarini himself died, and thus these
unfortunate legatees in humble life, of whom not a few
had shared their master's exile and privations, were left
penniless. On Madame d'Albany's death, nearly seventeen
years later, the residue of Henry Stuart's fortune, con-
sisting chiefly of real estate in Mexico, ultimately fell
(according to the terms of a secret codicil entrusted to
Monsignore Cesarini) to the Scots College in Rome ; an
institution in which he had, naturally enough, always